Lovely Laura (Landon)

My score is coming together quite nicely, but will I get the production rights? In this era, it seems unlikely, but I've never been one to avoid risks. I tried all sorts of directions to go with the lead, Josh. I tried the sociopathic edgelord, but that didn't fit. I tried directionless anger and that failed too. I tried the victim angle too, but that just made me shatter a glass in frustration. It was when I found another article on Masumi Shoji that I decided which direction to go: desperate and defensive.

It made me sick that the Havencraft High School shooting inspired what happened to the talented musicians at the Desert Violin Convention. However, the reporters made me even sicker than I already was. I had thought of killing my parents at times, but can anyone really blame me? All they cared about was lovely Laura. They shoved pills and lectures down my throat instead of listening to me. They kicked my brother out of the house for being trans and losing his hearing. Speaking of that, I'm picking up ASL pretty well and even wrote optional ASL lines into my musical. If I'm getting a message out, I might as well make sure everyone can get it.

Speaking of Lysander, he helped himself to the cookies I had made and then crashed on the couch. It was as if he had always been a boy and Laura hadn't made us feel disappointed in ourselves by subtly rubbing our failures in our faces. Sometimes, I still wish I wasn't gay. I still love my new boyfriend, Yuuto, more than ever, but I just wanted to be accepted like everyone else I knew. If not for that, I wouldn't need to have Laura's ghost hanging over my shoulder.

Wandering Son (Yuuto)

Landon did his presentation at DesiredCraft High School and, to be honest, I didn't think he had any reason to be nervous. He spoke with authority and passion that could only come from the heart. I heard Landon working on his musical adaptation of "Bang Bang You're Dead". I help by fetching props, adjusting mics, and giving feedback.
         "Hey, let's work on the promotional singles." I sipped my tea.
         "Sure." Both of us got to work. Landon's voice swelled into a soul-piercing scream and I loved it. The sound, both awful and awe-inspiring at the same time, diminished into a whimper. I interjected with jabs of my own from time to time making sure to sound as angry and hurt as possible.
         "That was good. Let's get some food." Both of us had drained several mugs of honey lemon tea in an effort to maintain our vocal health, but neither of us had eaten anything besides some chocolate pudding. We made a sukiyaki pot of sorts using strawberry jelly instead of white sugar in the teriyaki sauce. Landon is so creative and can find solutions to any problem. I cooked the homemade tofu I had brought and we ate. He bit into the tomato like an orange wedge and sprang back to work again, but I had another idea.

I suggested that we take a break and binge watch Hourou Musuko in an attempt to really understand his (now) brother, Lysander. Landon agreed, which surprised me as this anime is the opposite of his normal genre. However, I did not expect what came next. He fell asleep about halfway through the third episode, probably because of the soundtrack, so I turned it off and watched him sleep. He looked peaceful and breathed evenly as I ran my hands through his hair. Why was I doing that? I couldn't help myself.

A Midsummer Night's Dream (Landon)

Mark did great skating to Eros and donated the prize money to his band program. I'm doing a review of the original Havencraft RPG with both actual gameplay and commentary. Most of the bootlegs (I wouldn't even call them bootlegs.) are from people trying to be edgy and offensive, but, even without taking accuracy into account, the games fall flat in every sense. One was a generic shooter game that pretends to have a story. Am I supposed to care about this caricature of myself? No. He's an annoying sociopathic edgelord with no interest or purpose besides killing. If I could blow his brains out, I would.

I'm in the research stage and, so far, the direction that the creator went with was totally different from everything else I've seen. The creator's humor interspersed with his take on me were interwoven brilliantly. Lisette even made a few appearances and had some influence on the gameplay. Speaking of Lisette, she DM-ed me on a private Twitter account.

Hey.

Hey.

What's up?

I feel like crying.

Why?

Well, long story short, I got kicked out of the house. I'm losing my hearing. My parents said they could put up with cerebral palsy any day of the week, but couldn't take me having hearing loss.

Oh no!

Yeah. It sucks 'cause I can't hear my music, I moved down a few chair positions, and now I can't even hear the teachers in my classes. I have to lip-read.

That's terrible. They kicked you out for something you can't control.

Well...that's not why they kicked me out. I said I've felt "off" for a while about a year ago and I couldn't figure out why. I started getting interested in binding, but I just wear oversized shirts. 

Are you... I didn't want to finish the sentence at first. Are you transgender?

Yes. I can't take it anymore. 

I can't just call you Lisette anymore. You need a new name. 

I want to stick with the L theme, but I don't really like Liam, Lance, or Luke.

Lysander?

What?

Lysander. From A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Great, now all I need is a Demetrius. 

At least you didn't want to change your name to Hermia. 

Idk what to title this (Steve)

Let's face it. Meetings suck, especially when they have to do with a student doing poorly. That happened to be the case with Lisette. Her grades were falling fast in some classes and holding up pretty well in others.

Nothing really seemed to add up, so I asked questions about mood, what the classrooms were like, and where she sat. I noted that she did worse in classes where she sat in the back and where there were fewer visual aids and seemed to be a bit depressed, but nothing that would be alarming if not for the academic decline. Seeing that she survived a mass shooting, getting doxxed, and her first year of high school, I think her mental state is no surprise.

I noticed that she haphazardly off all of her hair in a bathroom, started wearing really baggy clothes, and wasn't as active on social media (although that could be attributed to the doxxing). Mark asked me to meet him in person for his help where he would normally text. I had already said that I suspected some form of hearing loss, but my suggestions were brushed off as usual. Her intonation got markedly worse, but she always managed to adjust and recover. I tried talking to her, but she would always storm out of the room crying. Needless to say, I need Mark's help with this one.

We met at Mark's place, which was covered in vines and even had some cocoa and coffee pods growing in the trees. He poured me a cup of coffee to make sure I would stay awake.
         "How have you not noticed?"
         "Not noticed what?" Lisette's brain is a melting pot. Hearing loss, PTSD, and other factors may be at play, but I'm not sure what. I attributed the hair thing to a case of disinhibition.
         "I don't think Lisette is Lisette."
         "What do you mean?"
         "Well...this is going to require me to share something very personal that I should have told you before. My students already know, but I was more nervous about telling you." Mark took a shaky deep breath. "I'm transgender." Well, I wasn't expecting that. I took a long sip of my coffee and made sure I heard that correctly.
          "So...how long have you wanted to be a woman?" I didn't expect Mark to want to become a woman, but I'd do anything to help. I even know a thing or two about makeup.
          "What? No! Been there, done that." Leave it to Mark to make some clever quip...and cause even more confusion.
          "So...you were born a girl, but then became a man." Excuse the political incorrectness, but I just learned some groundbreaking information.
          "Right on. Anyway, I think she might be a he."
          "That's...fairly outlandish." Lisette seemed fairly comfortable as a girl, but appearances are just that: appearances. Maybe Mark was right. I'm just even more lost than I was before.